YA Novelties: Review: Supernaturally by Kiersten White

Supernaturally (Paranormalcy #2) by Kiersten WhitePublished: July 26, 2011 by HarperTeenHardcover, 336 pages

Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be...kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees.

But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos.

The prize in question? Evie herself.
So much for normal.

--GoodReads.

2 Stars

Review

What? 2 Stars? Why, yes, fellow reader. TWO stars. Why, you may ask? Why only TWO stars when the Paranormalcy is obviously a super amazingly awesome series that I've been hearing about from other people? Well, it's because I was quite disappointed. Seriously. All my hopes and dreams from White's stunning first peek of Evie's life in the Paranormalcy trilogy were crushed as I advanced through this book. Actually, I had been quite hesitant to continue with this trilogy because I have this thing that whenever I find a really GREAT series, I don't want to continue reading the sequels in fear that my perspective/view of the book/author would change. Has that ever happened to you? I feel like that's partially why I refuse to read Iron Knight, the 4th (FULL) book in Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series.

Don't get me wrong; I love Kiersten White's writing style. In fact, I WORSHIP her writing. It's easy to get through and I definitely don't have ANY trouble NOT putting down any book of hers. I'm not kidding. I was hooked onto White's hilarious, modern teenager Evie's point of view, even though it lacked:

A) a honest to goodness plot

B) decent characters

C) a "so-what?" factor.

Now, I shall start with point A. There's really not much to give away in the book; it basically followed Evie's life as she obsessed over her water spirit of a boyfriend Lend and talked about how she LOVED him so much that she was JEALOUS that he ~~could~~ would LIVE FOREVER and that she wasn't doing anything wrong when she decided NOT TO TELL HIM THE TRUTH after promising to share everything and tell no lies right to his face. Wow, Evie, WOW. Evie yearns for a normal life after being cooped up in a paranormal agency all 17-18 years of her life and gains this little pleasure. After about 1-2 months of this, Evie beings to complain about the BORINGNESS (for once, Evie is correct) of school, and displays real attitude to her snarky gym teacher. She has no friends and dedicates her entire being, or really, lack of being (she is an Empty One, remember now, kiddies) to her BF Lend-y (the water) boy *cue hearts and flowers and fields of daisies.* That's really not quite a healthy lifestyle. Not only that, but Evie is quite irresponsible and is blinded to the fact that there will be only ONE FUTURE for her and that is attending Georgetown, making Lend's babies, living the rest of (her) life with him (he's immortal, dur) and making more kissy face. She doesn't even consider ONCE that she might not get in. Well, for being such a "mature" teenager that is much more "educated" about life (namely paranormals) than other normal kids, why didn't you effin plan your life out or apply to back-up colleges JUST IN CASE?

Not only that, but the real plot actually continues in a rush. It's almost as if White finally, finally woke up from her sleep writing and finished the book in the last 30 pages! Heck, there's little to no plot and she even accepts a request from IPCA, a paranormalcy agency that Evie worked for and fought to ESCAPE from in the first book, to RETURN back to the place she STARTED. What? WHAT THE HECK WAS THE POINT OF THE FIRST BOOK THEN?!?

Oh, Evie. You're not just an Empty One in the Soul. You are also an Empty One in the Head. *SIGH*.

The first 300 pages doesn't even really lead up to much of a climax in the last 30 pages. I could correctly predict what was to happen next and wasn't at all shocked. Well, I suppose being an avid NCIS watcher may help in these situations, but seriously. What a disappointment.

B) LACK OF DECENT CHARACTERS- SEE ABOVE AT EVIE RANT.

C) "So what?" factor - So Evie does this. So Evie does that. She learns about 2-3 pieces of important information. MAXIMUM. So what? Where is this leading? Where could you possibly be leading me now, White? Your stories are like your Faerie Paths. I can't get out of them without you to guide me. Please tell me reading Supernaturally led up to SOMETHING important for your third book, Endlessly. And please let it be kind of decent! I really don't know what to expect anymore....

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Time lapse: 1 hour

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Okay, okay. So maybe I'm being a little bit harsh. Well, who wouldn't be? I had expected so much, and White's lack of a plot really brought down the quality of her writing. I started to hate Evie, a character I so much admired during Paranormalcy! Evie's constant whining about life, and blindness to what was going around her really pissed me off. I certainly hope White's writing improves in her third book Endlessly if I ever read it.